No QAM Tuner, No box from cable company. Will I need a box to get digital in 2009?

Question

I pay for basic reception analog service from time warner and get it directly through the wall without the use of a box- just like in the old days. My lcd tv has an atsc tuner that I get digital signals through with a rooftop antenna. I have no QAM tuner. Will I have to use a box to get my future digital programming or can I just plug my wall cable into my antenna jack and not use the antenna? Is the digital signal I get through my antenna jack the same as what will come directly through the wall cable after the switch? I do have a smaller, newer tv in another room that does have a QAM tuner and I receive some digital channels. The television in question can't receive these same signals.

Answer 1

First, the DTV changeover does not directly affect cable. Whatever changes they make, and when, are up to the individual cable providers, but they must continue to provide analog versions of the locally available over the air TV until 2012, or provide a converter box.

Second, you will continue to be able to use your antenna after 2/17/09, if your TV has an ATSC tuner, otherwise, you will need a digital to analog converter box.

Third, the ATSC tuner will not receive digetal cable nor will the digital to analog converter box mentioned above be of any use. DTV on cable requires a QAM tuner.

Answer 2

If you have an ATSC tuner, you are all set for receiving digital over the air from your antenna.  The change next February only affects this mode of reception.

The standard analog service you get from your cable company should not change in the near future, either.  Cable companies are supposed to support analog sets until 2012.   I am hearing from some cable subscribers that cable systems are moving channels out of the basic analog tier into the digital tier, you will have to keep an eye out for that.  So, you may end up losing channels from your basic tier.

If you do not have a QAM tuner, you will need to get the cable company's set top box or some other QAM tuner if you change to digital cable.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Lets start with some facts:

The date in 2009 (2/17/09 to be exact) is only for over the air TV signals and has nothing to do with your cable TV service.

The converter boxes that the government is handing out coupons for only work with over the air signals and were specifically designed so they can't be used with cable TV signals.

Most/all cable TV companies are planing to change to all-digital service. There is no national date as these changes are occurring at a local level. Some cable companies seem to be slowly killing there analog service by moving various channels to digital only.

When this happens you should have the following choices with your non-QAM TV.

1. Use a cable box. This is just a different kind of converter that is designed to work with digital TV signals.

2. Buy a recorder that has a QAM tuner built into it.

2. Buy a TV tuner that has a QAM tuner built into it. These are rather pricey at this point but speculation is that once the government runs out of $40 off coupons, there will be "converter boxes" that work with both ATSC & QAM at reasonable prices.

If your non-QAM TV has an HD display, you might think about biting the bullet and buying a  Samsung DTB-H260F tuner. It recieves both ATSC & QAM and can output HD resolution.

For about the same price you can get a DVD recorder with a QAM tuner built into it.